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Brayden Elliott pitching in the ninth inning against Illinois Tech
Luigi Lam
6
Illinois Tech IIT 8-14
7
Winner Ill. Wesleyan IWU 7-15
Illinois Tech IIT
8-14
6
Final
7
Ill. Wesleyan IWU
7-15
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Illinois Tech IIT 0 1 2 0 0 2 1 0 0 6 7 2
Ill. Wesleyan IWU 2 0 0 0 0 2 1 2 X 7 12 0

W: Fry, Anthony (1-0) L: James Kennedy (0-1) S: Elliott, Brayden (1)

Game Recap: Baseball |

Late Runs Lift Baseball to Win Over Scarlet Hawks

Fry collects first career win, Elliott first career save

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. -  The Illinois Wesleyan University baseball team's flair for late-game dramatics continued Tuesday, April 7 in a non-conference game against Illinois Tech at Jack Horenberger Field. The Titans (7-15) used a two-run eighth to upend the Scarlet Hawks (8-14) in comeback fashion, 7-6.

The Green and White leaned on five pitchers to get the job done, with sophomore Luc Lawler (Naperville, Ill.-Benet) earning his first career start for the Titans. Lawler went the first two innings letting up a run on two hits with a strikeout. Seniors Nathan Waterman (Downers Grove, Ill.-Downers Grove South) and Jake Pullam (Palatine, Ill.-Palatine) went the next four innings, both pitching two apiece. Waterman allowed two runs on two hits, while Pullam also allowed two on just one hit, while fanning four batters. Freshman Anthony Fry (Libertyville, Ill.-Libertyville) took home his first collegiate win. He worked 2.1 innings, punching out three and surrendered a run. The final pitcher of the game was freshman Brayden Elliott (Gibson City, Ill.-Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley). Elliott secured the Titan win, and his first career save, striking out the two batters he faced.

The Titans outhit the Scarlet Hawks 12-7 with big contributions from sophomore AJ Weller (Geneseo, Ill.-Geneseo) and junior Jack Novak (Mokena, Ill.-Lincoln-Way Central). Weller collected another three-hit day and coupled it with a run batted in. Novak continued his hot-streak with a 2-for-3 showing with an RBI. He advanced his hit-streak to five games and has nine hits in that span. Junior John Philip Ferraro (Oak Park, Ill.-Oak Park River Forest) and senior Gage Wolfe (Bloomington, Ill.-Bloomington) also notched multi-hit games with a pair each.

The scoring started early for the Titans as sophomore Matt Hudik (Frankfort, Ill. -Lincoln-Way East) singled to start the game and would come around to score on a wild pitch. A few batters later, Novak fisted a ball into left which doubled the lead to score Weller, who boarded first after Hudik. 

The Scarlet Hawks responded with a run in the top of the second inning. They claimed their first lead of the day an inning later off of a triple to take a 3-2 lead. Both bats went silent on the cold and windy evening until Illinois Tech tacked on three more runs in the top of the sixth to take a 5-2 lead.

IWU began to chip away in the home sixth as Novak got the party started with a single into center. Junior Eli Kieser (Normal, Ill. -University High) brought home Novak on a deep drive to center to place himself at second k. After some small ball played by Wolfe, senior Derek Ittner (Bloomingdale, Ill. -Bloomingdale) drove in Keiser on a sacrifice fly to slice the margin down to 5-4 at the end of the sixth.

The Scarlet Hawks added an insurance run in the top of the seventh inning before Illinois Wesleyan snatched the run back in the last half of the frame. Back-to-back singles opened the inning and a walk loaded the bases. Kieser plated Weller after a drive to center field cut the IIT lead to one. 

A scoreless top of the eighth from Fry, a leadoff single from Wolfe coupled with Ittner reaching on an error set the table for the top of the order. With runners on second and third, Hudik drove in Wolfe to tie the game on an RBI-groundout. The Titans formed an assembly line ahead of Weller who singled up the middle to score Ittner, which propelled the Titans ahead 7-6.

Fry came back out for the ninth, but a walk after a strikeout was the end of the line for him. Elliott entered but not before the inning would get spicy. Illinois Tech snatched second and third to set up the game-tying run just ninety feet away, but Elliott struck out two straight to lock up the save.

The Titans have a quick turnaround as they hit the road for a midweek College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin contest at Elmhurst University tomorrow, April 8. First pitch from Butterfield Park in the western suburbs is scheduled for 3 p.m.
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